None of the characters in this story belong to me.
For your reading pleasure...
WHERE HE FOUND THE PERFECT SHADE OF BLUE
He had always been a child of the seas - born with vigor, seasonably turbulent and calm, curious, embracing.
The deep forest was new world for him, a rare treat beyond the colorful stories of books, and the confines of his own imagination.
It was… magical.
The people, the land, the animals, the trees – everything and everyone were brimming with life.
Then he heard a distinct sound – a laughter. In his ears it sounded like a rhythmic flowing of a river. The wind carried it in its wake, drew him closer to the source.
There was a girl. Suspended in the air? That can't be right, he thought. He rubbed his eyes, and looked again from behind the tree.
She was gone.
A tap on his shoulder startled him. It was the girl.
She's almost as tall as he is. Her skin is faded autumn leaf. Her hair is neatly yet proudly tucked in a single braid behind her head.
He stared at her smiling face, and then finally stepped back to keep a courteous distance. He looked at her again, this time locked in his gaze. Her eyes – they were bluer than the ocean, and a thousand times prettier, he thought.
Her giggle caused a wave of blood to rush to his face, and he instantly raised his arms to cover the embarrassment.
After the chortles she turned to her side, closed her eyes, stretched out her arms and breathed. The wind responded in a wave of hissing leaves, and the boy felt like something was hugging him warmly. Little crumples of dried leaves began to circle around her, following the flow of the wind. Slowly and steadily it lifted her from the ground until she managed to reach a tree. He watched in awe.
Impressed but determined not to be outperformed by another seemingly of his own age, he mimicked her movements. The wind responded with him just as much, though not as favorably. It grabbed hold of the hem of his coat and turned it over his head, causing him to stumble to the ground. The girl, watching from the tree, laughed. He looked up at her with a pout.
Seeing and hearing her in such a state of hilarity seemed to have made the disgrace less unbearable - in fact, it almost felt like it was worth it.
"What's your name?" he called out, immediately getting over the humiliation. She tilted her head at him, and the boy wondered if she understood.
The girl raised both arms to her chest, gesturing for him to observe. He did, intently, and he watched her repeat the process, but this time, he took note how she held her breath, release it, take it in, and then cycle the steps in moderate fashion. She opened her eyes and bent over to tell him it's his turn.
The boy closed his eyes and did the fundamental steps. This time, he could feel the wind circling his body, coating him in a blanket of warmth and energy he couldn't explain. A clear vision of the forest materialized in his mind, in the middle of it was the girl, dancing, twirling in a clearing, inviting him to join her. He reached out, and then decided to open his eyes. He was standing in the air, a feet from where she was, a continuous gust of wind circling his torso. She was clapping excitedly, genuinely happy for him.
Feeling victorious for some reason, the boy gave a proud, childish laugh, hands on his hips and chest puffed out like the entire forest below was his conquest.
The girl rolled her eyes and shook her head, and the wind decided to share her opinion. It gradually released its hold on the boy, making his abrupt journey back down seem perilous. The boy yelled and attempted to 'swim' through the air, creating yet another comic scene for the girl who by then was bending over with all the laughter.
A mild thud introduced his buttocks on the ground. As he recovered, he wondered if the girl was still up in the tree. She wasn't. He rose from the ground, looked up and began to run from one tree to the next, searching for that small figure of his new found fancy.
Upon reaching the next tree, he found the girl, his face almost colliding with hers. The sudden proximity that allowed him such wondrous view of her big blue eyes caused him to freeze for a good minute, before he recoiled back, face completely red, making her laugh once again. He fell on a bed of dried, red leaves that burst in the air, and they were instantly surrounded by fall season colors, twirling, gliding, and falling slowly.
She bent over toward him, knees on her chest, as he looked up, covering the blush on his nose with his hand, but not finding it in himself to lose sight of her even for a moment as she looked down at him, same happy, mischievous expression.
Sunbeams from the drawing dusk surrounded her small features beautifully.
"Agnarr! It's time to go back."
A familiar voice called from afar, breaking his trance. He craned his neck and saw the world upside down, his father waving at him from afar. When he looked back up, she was gone again. Agnarr rose from the ground, dusted off his clothes. He could hear horses being fitted, and carriages being loaded. It was time to leave.
He scanned his immediate surroundings, but she was nowhere to be seen. He gave a defeated sigh. With shoulders in a slump, and the hopes of meeting her again rather dim, he started to head towards his waiting people.
Until something grabbed hold of his arm, pull him to the side, and a pair of soft lips brashly collided with his ear whispering thus: "My name is Idunna."
She was suspended from the tree with her legs hooked on its branch when she did this in what seemed like a split second. She jumped down shortly after, a bashful smile on her blushing face. A moment more in that awkward (yet adorable) stance in front of the awestruck lad before she finally decided to do a courtesy and sprint away, a bounce in her wake and in every few steps looking back at Agnarr, biting her smiling lips and obviously withholding another fit of giggles.
A rather idiotic grin crept on his handsome features right after his annoyed father called his name once more. He finally decided to begin his lazy walk back. All the while his mind remained in a state of delightful whirlpools between the sound of her name, the sensation of her lips on his ear, and the excitement of finding her once again tomorrow.
The end.
Will upload another portion tomorrow. Marking this as complete as each chapter doesn't really rely on the other, and I might end up stopping entries, though I would definitely give a heads up before doing so.
Reviews are welcome, thank you.
Just a disclaimer on a concept - that scene where he was sprawled on the ground and she was looking down at her - I got that from an anime styled art of them in Zerochan. It's beautiful, just search it in google. It'll brighten your day.